* AlasPoorScrappy: While Percy was a Grade-A asshole, itís hard not to at least slightly pity his ultimate fate. * AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: ** The look of absolute horror on Percy's face after Coffey pushes the "disease" into his mouth, and the tear that rolls down his face just before he shoots Wharton could theoretically indicate that, rather than John forcing him to shoot Wharton, Coffey used the contact to show Percy everything Wharton had done. Percy, a small, sniveling, vicious, cowardly man was so broken by seeing true evil that he not only had to seek immediate retribution on Wharton, but spent the rest of his life catatonic from sorrow at just how evil the real bad guys could be. Look at his face during Del's execution. Can he not watch it because of how gruesome it is, or because he honestly didn't think it would be that bad and was having a "MyGodWhatHaveIDone" moment?** The other guards protectiveness of the inmates, to the point of borderline contempt of anyone wanting to punish them for their crimes. Do they possess so out of a unflappable belief in redemption and forgiveness, or are they desperate men willing to enable murderers just to soften their lonely, miserable jobs? Similarly are the people they ''are'' willing to PayEvilUntoEvil before because they ''don't'' show the same remorse, or simply because they harmed [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality people they cared about]], compared to the anonymous strangers harmed by the inmates they befriend (as observed when Paul's view of Wild Bill alters completely after seeing his actions Coffey's vision). Or perhaps they're treating them softly because if they tried to treat them harshly, they might crack and kill ''them''?* AssholeVictim: Delacroix. While his death was indeed gruesome and drawn-out, he did brutally rape and murder a young girl. Further, several other people died in the fire he started in an attempt to cover up his previous crime.* CompleteMonster: [[AxCrazy William "Wild Bill" Wharton]] is a PsychopathicManchild awaiting execution at the Cold Mountain Penitentiary for murdering three people in an armed robbery, one of whom was a pregnant woman. When he first appears in the prison he manages to convince the guards he's in a drugged stupor, only to attempt to strangle Dean Stanton to death when his guard was down. Failing in that, Wild Bill contents himself with causing as much mischief as he can before his eventual execution. Eventually it comes to light that Wild Bill's worst known crime was the [[WouldHurtAChild rape and murder of the two little girls]] that John Coffey is accused of killing. In order to stop the girls from calling for help, he told them that if one of them screams, [[IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure it's her sister that he'd kill.]] %%* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory* FauxSymbolism* FridgeHorror: If John Coffey's statement, he can feel the ugliness the world over is intended to be taken literally, he can feel [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler something very ugly going on in 1935 Germany]]. To say nothing of [[UsefulNotes/JosefStalin Stalin]]'s Russia, and the Empire of Japan's conquest of the Pacific and Southeast Asia. Or he just feels it [[HumansAreBastards constantly]].* HarsherInHindsight: Percy's constant homophobic slurs to Delacroix can be this for people who know that Michael Jeter was gay in RealLife.* HeReallyCanAct: Portraying John Coffey showed the world just how much range Creator/MichaelClarkeDuncan was capable of.* HoYay: ** [[MemeticMolester Wharton]] [[spoiler:doesn't like just little girls... he also likes annoying {{jerkass}}es like Percy Wetmore.]]** Although it is ambiguous whether Wharton enjoys a real screw, or just a MindScrew: his goal was not to have sex, but to watch Percy panic, and he's successful - Percy [[BringMyBrownPants pisses himself in fear]], much to Delacroix's amusement. Given one of the many [[http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/12/messages/610.html nicknames]] for sadistic prison guards, one could say that Wharton enjoyed screwing with the screws.* MoralEventHorizon: ** Percy's sabotage of the first execution he's put in charge of causes the condemned man to die a horrible, agonizing death. The worst part? It was done out of petty revenge just for being embarrassed. ** What Wild Bill did to the two girls, physically and emotionally. ("If you make noise, [[IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure it's your sister I kill, not you.]]")* OlderThanTheyThink: Believe it or not, this film (or novel, rather) borrows the plot from the ''Series/AmazingStories'' episode, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaVQjQxcDFs Life on Death Row]]", except that near the end of that episode [[spoiler:the executed magical inmate is brought BackFromTheDead with help from the friends he has healed]].* OneSceneWonder:** Creator/GarySinise is only in one scene, but the [[Film/ForrestGump obvious]] [[Film/{{Apollo13}} connections]] with Tom Hanks put him in the trailer. His cameo was also in reference to being in ''Film/TheStand'', another Creator/StephenKing Adaptation. ** While Harry Dean Stanton does show up for some other scenes, he only has any real lines in [[LargeHam one scene]], which ends up being a major Crowning Moment of Funny.* {{Squick}}: Paul's urinary tract infection is described in nauseating detail, including him noticing chunks of pus in the toilet.* TheWoobie:** John Coffey. He feels that he lives in a world that is full of too much pain and suffering. As such, he considers his inevitable execution to be a MercyKill.** Subverted with Delacroix, as, after all, there was a reason he was sentenced to the chair. But no doubt he regretted what he did, and how he died was, to say the least, excessive. [[spoiler:Even if it qualified as LaserGuidedKarma; he was an arsonist and murderer, and ''burned to death'' in the chair. In the novel, one of the guards even comments that when other townspeople hear of the botched execution, instead of being horrified they'll all wish they'd been there to see it.]]*** Del is slightly more Woobie-ish in the book. As well as the main event, King also describes the minutes before Del's execution. [[spoiler:He hugs Brother Schuster, the priest, who agreed to pray with him in Cajun French. While Del cries throughout the prayer, he's also visibly comforted and by the end, feels that he's right with God. Despite the horrific crime he committed, Del is still (well, [[CaptainObvious YMMV]]) one of the more likable characters.]]** Paul, once the full impact of the epilogue kicks in.** Dean, getting strangled and everything. Then four months after the story takes place, [[spoiler:he gets stabbed to death. He also has two kids who are going to spend the rest of their adolescence without a father.]]** A rare example of a Woobie ''prison warden'', though he's more of an IronWoobie: Hal Moores, who personally disarmed a prisoner with a shank, sees his wife become terminally ill. [[spoiler:When Coffey heals his wife, he breaks down sobbing.]]